Right to Buy scheme set to end in Wales

Wales is set to follow Scotland and end the Right to Buy scheme for council tenants.

Right to Buy allowed tenants to buy the property they were living in at a discounted rate; around 2 million homes have been sold since the scheme was established by Margaret Thatcher in 1979. The scheme was abolished in Scotland on 31 July and the Welsh Assembly has announced that it will end it in the principality as soon as the legislation can be passed.

Reaction to the news has divided on party lines with Conservative politicians calling the move ‘anti-aspiration’ while the Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones said it was essential to ‘safeguard our social housing stock.’ The Scottish National Party also cited the preservation of social housing as the reason for ending the scheme in Scotland.

The Right to Buy scheme is expanding in England and has now opened up to certain housing association tenants.

Many housing groups have questioned the wisdom of selling off properties when the need for affordable housing is so great across the whole of the UK.